Hizbullah Bloc Says Proportional Representation 'Obligatory Path' for 'State Rise'

Hizbullah's Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc announced Thursday that the proportional representation electoral system is an “obligatory path” for change and reform in Lebanon.

“What Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has proposed about endorsing an electoral law fully based on proportional representation in a single electorate or several large electorates is an obligatory path for the rise of a State that can achieve change and reform in the country,” said the bloc in a statement issued after its weekly meeting.

“Finalizing the electoral law, in parallel with the efforts to form a new cabinet, is something necessary,” the bloc added, stressing that it rejects the 1960 electoral law and that it wants the elections to be held “on time.”

Separately, the bloc said the recapture of the Syrian city of Aleppo by President Bashar Assad's forces and their allies “is a pivotal achievement that puts an end to any scheme seeking to partition Syria.”

Caretaker Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq has recently warned that there is not much time left to pass a new electoral law while announcing that the ministry is ready to organize the polls under the 1960 law.

Hizbullah has repeatedly called for an electoral law fully based on proportional representation but other political parties, especially al-Mustaqbal Movement, have rejected the proposal and argued that the party's controversial arsenal of arms would prevent serious competition in regions where the Iran-backed party is influential.

Mustaqbal, the Lebanese Forces and the Progressive Socialist Party have meanwhile proposed a hybrid electoral law that mixes the proportional representation and the winner-takes-all systems. Speaker Nabih Berri has also proposed a hybrid law.

The country has not voted for a parliament since 2009, with the legislature instead twice extending its own mandate.

The 2009 polls were held under an amended version of the 1960 electoral law and the next elections are scheduled for May 2017.